The upper part of the body of people and animals is called the head.
The head is the upper part of the human body and the upper or anterior part of many animals. Several of the most important sense organs and nervous centers are located there.
For example: "The police found the woman's torso inside the house and, about a hundred meters away, they found her head" , "The footballer was hospitalized after suffering a severe blow to the head" , "If you don't want to be cold "I recommend you cover your head with a hat."
Head features
The head - a term from the Latin capitia - contains the brain , the mouth and various sensory organs linked to vision, smell, hearing and taste. In vertebrates and arthropods, the head is clearly differentiated from the rest of the body, which represents a high degree of cephalization .
In the case of man , the anteroinferior region of the head is called the face . There are the eyes, nose and mouth. The region above the face is the forehead , while the lower end is called the chin .
Headaches can have different causes.
A common annoyance
Headaches are a phenomenon that most people experience once in a while, and the reasons for them can be many and varied, such as not getting enough sleep, stress due to work or school, or staying too long . time in the sun. However, some people suffer from it frequently and for periods longer than a few hours.
It is worth mentioning that the discomfort experienced in this case is not located in the brain, since it does not have the capacity to feel pain ; On the contrary, the affected parts are usually the nerves , the muscles that cover the skull and neck area, and the blood vessels. For example, muscles or vessels may become inflamed and tense, putting pressure on surrounding nerves.
Causes of headache
The most normal cause of headache is precisely the tension caused by the contraction of certain muscles; This usually gives the sensation of having something inside the skull pressing on the forehead or neck. On the other hand, the typical congestion of a cold or flu can also cause a headache.
Let's see below the rest of the most common causes of this discomfort:
- Lack of hydration.
- Staring at a screen for too many hours without a break .
- Listen to music at a very high volume.
- Go on long trips that include drastic changes in altitude.
- Consume tobacco.
- Abuse caffeine.
- Not eating all the recommended meals per day.
- Infections in the paranasal sinuses (air cavities in some bones of the head that connect to the nasal passages):
- Infections in the ear, throat or even the urinary system.
- Lyme disease (an infection contracted from the bite of a tick carrying the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi ).
Other uses of the notion
Since it houses the brain, the notion of head is also used as a synonym for ability, judgment or talent : “We have to hire a man with a good head to run this company,” “I will not tolerate another mistake: use your head.” before continuing to work on the project” , “Roberto lost his head and insulted the boss” .
The beginning or end of a thing ( "A car crashed into the head of the bridge" ), the extreme part opposite to a point ( "You have to hammer the head of the nail to hold the shelf together" ) and the origin of something that flows or discourses ( "At the head of the demonstration was Jorge Ratzunbert" ) are other uses of the term head.